The public consultations you initiated on the commercialisation of Bt brinjal have led to the announcement of a moratorium. Where does the government go from here?
I have said in my report on the consultations that it is a moratorium. It is not a conditional acceptance. As you would know, there is a big difference between the two. I am of the view that three issues relating to this need to be addressed thoroughly in the moratorium. And on all three counts we need to get to the right position. We need to get the politics of this right, we need to get the science of this right and we need to get the right regulation. To move in this direction, the first thing is to have a debate in Parliament. We also need to have a meeting of the National Development Council (NDC) because of the huge opposition that has come from State governments, particularly from the major brinjal-cultivating States. Three States, West Bengal, Orissa and Bihar, which account for 60 per cent of the crop, have categorically said no to Bt brinjal.
On the science part, we need to have broad-based consultations. There are a number of eminent and responsible scientists, such as Dr M.S. Swaminathan, Dr [P.M.] Bhargava, Dr [G.] Padmanabhan and Dr [M.] Vijayan, president of the Indian National Science Academy, who have raised some questions and points about GM technology. I have quoted some of their opinions in my report, both in its main part and in the annexure. Overall, it is clear that the tests are inadequate, especially to establish human safety. Where the tests have to be carried out is an issue, in the context of questions relating to the independent nature of the tests. How the test results will be interpreted is also an important issue. So we need to get a broad agreement on all this.
As for the regulation part, we have been talking for six years about an independent national biotechnology regulatory body. We are no closer to it now. Many scientists themselves believe that biotechnology is a catch-all phrase. And we need a temperate body for regulating genetic engineering or genetically modified foods.
As of today, none of the three [politics, science, regulation] is right. The present case on Bt brinjal, I would put it this way: public opinion was raw negative, scientific consensus was not there, and clearly the politics was not right.
For the full interview: http://www.frontline.in/stories/20100312270500800.htm
